American investors Eye Nigeria’s Agric Sector, Pledge $6 billion

Agric minister, Akinwunmi Adesina

The minister of Agriculture, Akinwumi Adesina, has disclosed that American investors have committed to spend $6 billion on Nigerian agriculture based projects.

The minster disclosed this whilst signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Tony Elumelu Foundation on agribusiness in Abuja.

The minister said the partnership would provide for the establishment of ethanol production sites in the north where 100,000 hectares of land would be used to grow sugar-cane, whilst 70,000 hectares of land in the South would be used to grow cassava.

The MOU provides for the Tony Elumelu Foundation to act as an investment adviser in order to build the Federal Government’s capacity as well as engage both foreign and domestic investors.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, Mr. Tony Elumelu, founder of the Tony Elumelu Foundation and former CEO of UBA said he will use his connections in the banking industry to ensure that affordable loans were made available for farmers.

He said African countries adopt improper agricultural policies due to lack of awareness, so the foundation seeks to provide capacity to African governments, and has already executed similar projects in Sierra Leone and Liberia and now the turn of Nigeria.

He said the foundation would research past failed agricultural projects in the country in order to provide agricultural investors with a blueprint of mistakes to avoid when doing agribusiness in Nigeria.

“This will be in the public domain as part of our contribution to grow agriculture in the country,” he said.

“The fellow we are sending to the ministry is one of the most accomplished fellows, we believe as a foundation in the role of the private sector, and we also realize that the private sector cannot do much until it gets the necessary back-up that will unlock investment opportunities,” Elumelu added

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One Comment

1. 

   Ivans

   May 17, 2014 at 4:13 am

   Welcome to Nigeria business environment.